Pulmonary Hypertension: Beyond the Swan Ganz Catheter

Endothelin Receptor Antagonists• Cochrane Database Stystemic Review• Three studies compared a non‐selective ERA (bosentan) withplacebo, one compared bosentan with sildenafil (aphosphodiesterase inhibitor) , and one compared a selective ERA(sitaxsentan) with placebo• 12‐16 week period of treatment• Improved exercise capacity• Improve Borg dyspnoea score• Improve pulmonary artery pressure, pulmonary vascularresistance, and cardiac index in symptomatic patients with mainlyidiopathic PAH• No mortality benefit• Most severe side effect, hepatic toxicity, was not commonLiu & Chen, 2006